Recently, more and more voices have been raised in the American Jewish community, expressing dissatisfaction with current representation of the Jewish community in Zionist institutions and institutions that represent Jewish views on Israel.

With the installation of the new Palestinian government, the shape of things to come is evident, and it also reveals, to an extent, the shape of things past. The US will not deal with the government, but they will deal with non-Hamas officials in the government. Actually, it is not a new attitude, but a continuation of the old one. What changed of course, is that whereas before, the US was trying to bolster the stand of Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas against the Hamas, now that Abbas has caved in, to all appearances, to Hamas conditions, it is not clear why the US continues to support him as if nothing happened. A gambler admitted that a game was rigged. He was asked why then, if he knew the game was rigged, he continues to play. "It's the only game in town." Abbas, as far as the Americans are concerned, is the only game in town.

Syria is being courted by the West, after many years of isolation. The EU sent Javier Solana to Damascus with a package of goodies, and US, Iraqi, Syrian and Iranian representatives met in Baghdad to discuss the stabilization of Iraq, with another, higher level meeting, reportedly planned soon. Solana is offering the Golan Heights in return for Syrian concessions in Lebanon. Perhaps Israel should offer the Basque territories or Toledo in return for peace. That will give the Arabs a foothold in al Andalus (Spain used to be Arab and Muslim, until it was ethnically cleansed, remember?) and make Assad the hero of the Arab world no doubt.

AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, is not the ideal representative of Israeli interests in the USA. Considering the modest results it achieves, it makes itself extremely conspicuous. It strives for unrealistic goals such as moving the US embassy to Jerusalem. It focuses on congress, which has a minimal say in foreign relations, and specializes in showy resolutions of support for Israel, that have no real impact. It often pursues "hard line" policy goals that are not policies of the state of Israel. All this is done with maximum publicity and high profile grandstanding, making AIPAC an easy target for anti-Zionists, and lending credibility to those who insist, along with professors Mearsheimer and Walt, Holocaust denier Jeff Rense, and Jimmy Carter that the "Israel lobby" controls Middle East policy.

A popular view among liberals and progressives is that the solution to the Middle East Conflict (read: the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory) is the key for solving all other problems in the Middle East. America will succeed in making Iraq a peaceful and democratic state, Arab states will democratize and prosper, and the Islamists and Al Qaida will become isolated with their calls for jihad and will lose their most important source for recruitment. Iran will likely abandon its quest for atomic weapons, and Egypt and Syria can spend all the money they now put into their armies on education and health care.